thempirestwilightfandomcom-20200214-history
Shorts Singapore MR.2
The Shorts Singapore MR.2 was a maritime patrol flying boat developed by Shorts from the Japanese Shin Meiwa PS-1A . It entered service with RAF Coastal Command in 1970 and was still in service during the '91 Disaster. Genesis Throughout the 1960s there was a wide ranging fear amongst air warfare planners that runways were becoming increasingly vulnerable with the advent of stand-off conventional weapons (as well as nuclear weapons which could shut down a whole airfield). For fast jets this was largely alleviated by the use of roads to act as runways as well as rockets to assist take-offs. For Coastal Command however the problem was not as easily rectified when it came to its big maritime patrollers such as the Avro Shackleton and the then-under development Hawker Nimrod . Therefore in 1965 a committee was set up to investigate alternative options. Headed by Lord Brian Morley the committee came up with a seemingly radical idea; flying boats. With 3/4 of the Earth's surface a potential runway the advantages were obvious. The RAF were still using a small number of obsolete flying boats for training, SAR and fisheries protection. Resistance The concept of using one as a true maritime patrol aircraft capable of orchestrating and even carrying out combat actions over the ocean was met with criticism but the committees findings were hard to ignore. Those resistant to the idea persisted however and the result would be a split force of land based and sea based aircraft with a new design meeting the requirements of the latter. The problem now was to get a design operational as quickly as possible before the lobbyists against the idea convinced the British Parliament to reject the idea. One company in the UK had become synonomous with flying boats before and during the war and so Coastal Command turned to Shorts of Northern Ireland to design the new aircraft with an in-service date of 1970, less than five years! Getting the Japanese on side Shorts realized that to design an aircraft from scratch and test it within the timeframe established would be impossible. Then news filtered through that the Japanese were developing a new flying boat which would evolve into the PS-1. Under the guise of the Anglo-Japanese Pact a team from Shorts met with their Japanese counterparts initially under an observatory mission but it soon became apparent the Japanese were designing a very good aircraft and formal negotiations began for license production in the UK to meet RAF Coastal Command's demanding requirements. The contract was signed on April 1st 1966. The Japanese would continue to develop the basic aircraft while Shorts would tailor the design to how the RAF wanted it. Supermarine Legal Action With barely a minute to lose in order to meet the deadline the program was struck a heavy blow when on June 3rd 1966 the High Courts ordered Shorts to cease work on the aircraft pending the outcome of legal proceedings made against them and the RAF by Supermarine. Like Shorts, Supermarine had been a major manufacturer of flying boats and they were angry that a design competition was not held to meet the requirement. Supermarine argued that Shorts would unfairly monopolize RAF flying boats in the future. Court Ruling The Courts ruled that the RAF had acted wrongfully by not issuing a design competition and requested that Supermarine either begin negotiations for compensation or put forward their own design which would be evaluated by the Air Ministry. Fearing reprisals if they went for the money Supermarine put forward their own original design which was quite similar to the PS-1. Unfortunately Supermarine could not produce an aircraft within the timeframe specified by the RAF and so Supermarine withdrew their complaint on July 13th 1966 allowing Shorts to continue their work. Anglicization Shorts unveiled the first prototype on November 9th 1968. The aircraft, now named Singapore MR.1, was externally similar to its Japanese cousin but differed in several key areas. Firstly, the Singapore was a true amphibian unlike the Japanese aircraft which would later be reworked as an amphibious aircraft. Secondly, the aircraft was powered by four Rolls-Royce Usk turboprops which were slightly more powerful than the Japanese engines. In the bulbous nose there housed an ASV.21 maritime searh radar as fitted to the Shackleton and Nimrod. This was quickly the source of some misgiving as the set was rapidly becoming obsolete. Plans to incorporate a newer more advanced radar fell by the wayside only to resurface some years later. The communications suite and Magnetic Anomoly Detector (MAD) were all of British design. The aircraft made its first flight on an unusually calm day on January 16th 1969 from a concrete runway. It made its first water landing three days later. The aircraft proved ideally suited to the rough seas of the North Atlantic and by July 1969 Coastal Command was suitably impressed to order 36 examples designated MR.1. MR.2 In December 1969 there was a change at the top of Coastal Command as Air Marshall Rantham took office. He reviewed every program being undertaken by Coastal Command and viewed the Singapore with dismay despite the fact that the first three were nearing completion. He viewed the capabilities offered by the aircraft as being equal to what the command already had in the Shackleton and Nimrod and saw the water landing capability as little more than a fad. He therefore issued a directive to Shorts demanding that they either improve the aircraft within a reasonable budget or it would face cancellation. A more capable aircraft Shorts responded with a far more capable mission system produced by a conglomorate of British companies eager to buy-in on the aircraft. The ASV.21 was replaced by the far more sophisticated MAS.1 system designed by British Electronics Inc. and the aircraft featured an all-new mission computer that coordinated the whole effort of the aircraft. The 'new' design therefore became the Singapore MR.2 (not a single MR.1 was ever accepted into service). Category:Aircraft